After Chile's massive earthquake and potential Pacific Rim tsunami damage, relief organizations, government agencies, corporations and throngs of people are on Google, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other services to seek and provide information and help.
Inveneo Project Director Andris Bjornson, on the roof of the Haitian headquarters of CHF International, installs the base antenna for a series of Wi-Fi links to aid groups across Port-au-Prince. CHF shared its satellite link with other aid organizations via a Wi-Fi network built by Inveneo.
Nonprofit groups desperate to raise donations during the economic downturn are considering text-to-donate campaigns similar to the wildly successful American Red Cross texting effort for Haiti earthquake relief.
It was the day after the earthquake in Haiti and Stéphane Bruno, a Haitian IT consultant, by chance noticed an SOS message appear on the Facebook widget on his Android phone.
There was no let up in spamming and phishing activities last month even as the entire world watched with sympathy the tragedy in Haiti. To add to the sorrow behind the devastating earthquake on 12 January, cyber criminals took advantage of the tragedy to launch spamming and phishing attacks.
The exploratory trip last month by San Francisco-based nonprofit Inveneo might have been fairly routine -- or at least as routine as things can be for a group that brings information technology to poor countries all over the world. Members of its team would go to yet another country and meet with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) there to talk about their connectivity needs and discuss ways they could work together to aid the local population. Inveneo, founded about five years ago, had done similar work with partners in 23 countries, including Rwanda, Uganda, Afghanistan and Nepal.
Carriers and aid workers are scrambling to rebuild communications in Haiti following the catastrophic Jan. 12 earthquake near the capital city of Port-au-Prince, which left many residents with no means of communicating inside or outside the country.
Some Facebook users sending messages about the Haitian earthquake may have been a bit dismayed at times this week to find that they'd been booted off the site for suspicion of spamming.
Haiti earthquake relief donations made by text may not constitute a miracle, but the American Red Cross says it is overwhelmed by the millions of dollars it has received through $10 gifts sent via mobile phones.